Carbon materials derived from natural biomaterials are receiving increasing attention in recent years, due to their low cost, accessibility and renewability. In this work, a nano-porous carbon (PC)@NiFe2O4 magnetic composite has been prepared by a facile method from pomelo peels (PP) and its electromagnetic wave absorption properties have also been investigated in detail. Benefitting from the suitable impedance match, attenuation constant and unique hierarchically porous structure, the as-synthesized PC@NiFe2O4 composite displays enhanced microwave absorption capability compared to NiFe2O4 particles. The reflection loss (R-L) of PC@NiFe2O4 composite is as high as -50.8 dB at 143 GHz and the absorption bandwidth (R-L<-10 dB) is 4.9 GHz (from 12.4 GHz to 17.3 GHz) for a thickness of 25 mm. Our findings suggest that the porous biomass carbon derived from PP is a crucial factor for the superior microwave absorption property. The results of this work pave the way for the development of biomass-derived carbon as a sustainable, lightweight and high-performance microwave absorber for practical applications. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.